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What are the 9 Biggest Fiction Genres?

GENRE

This
section shows you varying genres of fiction and other mediums. When writing my
guide, I started with a few literary genres examples. I thought they could
inspire stories ideas. I wanted people starting ‘write’ away.

As
the guide grew, I began developing the character section, delving into the
human psyche. I realised how useful giving characters favoured literary music,
comedic and artistic genres could be. It gives your characters unique
personalities, much as you find in any cross-section of life.

FICTION

You
may have favoured genres before beginning writing your own stories. If you do
not, then fear not, as I have compiled a guide to the main genres, and
sub-genres, as I see them. This is by no means a complete set, but they will
give you ideas.

You
cannot define some genres as stand-alone, true genres, as they do not have
enough rules, tropes, history or market. They feature as part of the main
genres.

Each
genre has its own rules, but you can break them. Your story could also be a mixture.
It is useful having love interests for characters, and others providing comic
relief.

Try
adding mystery and suspense to stories. Mysteries involve events happening in
the past, that characters must discover, which adds tension. Suspense filled
stories include characters worrying about futures, like their impending doom.

Throughout
history, crime novels typically had yellow book jackets. This originated in
Italy, where they call them giallo, Italian for yellow.

As
the name suggests, crime fiction focuses on criminal activity. Generally, a
murder will be committed, but it needn’t be.

Stories
normally begin with discovering a body, or the murder itself, before the
mystery unfolds. It is the author’s choice whether to focus on the criminals,
the law-enforcers or both.

If
the main characters are the police force or part of a protection racket, such
as vigilantes, or private eyes, stories will be whodunits, involving
investigative processes. If law enforcement members are not the main
protagonists, they will be clumsy and bumbling, but can save the day at the
end.

Thriller
and adventure novels are synonymous to me, as is their movie cousin, action.
Suspense always features in thrillers. It keeps readers gripped; hooked on
every word, eager to find what happens next.

Thrillers
feature chases and hunts, to find or stop foes. Characters must perform
escapes, complete missions, and solve mysteries. It will seem impossible. A
common trope is kidnap and ransoms, with revenge heist story goals.

Common
characters are mentally unstable, volatile individuals without jobs, or an
exciting job. One force will be career criminals, serial killers or terrorists,
and their victims. The opposing side will be agents, spies or scientists but
can be as unstable.

The
protagonists will be unprepared for adventure and therefore reluctant. They
will also be a genius, but unassuming. In the beginning, villains are stronger
than heroes are, but the hero defeats them after a long, hard struggle.

A
character will be facing near certain death, so the hero must save them by
going on quests. This may be the heroes or another’s death. The key point is
having time limits to create suspense.

Thrillers
are violence heavy, as they typically follow rogues. Characters are under
constant threat, which brings fear, but always believe or hope they will
succeed, even when all looks lost.

Settings
are locations with heightened danger. Extremes opposites could be inner-city
life and gang warfare, to mountaineering on Everest, saving a lost hiker.

Westerns
would be included, if they did not all come from one particular time in
American history. Because of this, I include westerns in the literary genre.

Thrillers
follow many of the same rules as crime novels. Fans of one are likely to enjoy
the other. They both feature elements of mysterious intrigue, leaving readers
clues.

Major
themes are morality, justice, realism, corruption of innocence, and danger over
safety. This is the eternal struggle of dark versus light, good versus evil.

Science
fiction novels typically are set in futuristic settings, though they can
encompass historical elements. They are generally set on alien planets or an
alternate version of earth.

Alternate
timelines are a common trope, as are aliens, robots, androids, mutants,
artificial intelligence and post-apocalyptic worlds. Other tropes are fast
travel systems, bending the rules of space, time and light. This is a
forgivable break from the world of physics, though hard science fiction writers
stay true to scientific reasoning, within their own knowledge fields.

They
may also feature parallel universes. These parallel universes often have
portals between them. The portals are wormholes. This is another way to travel
long-distance fast. Characters can always teleport though.

When
removing features from our world, authors can use these historic elements to
mirror current cultures, creating futuristic worlds. Shadowing modern day
themes in fiction is an interesting way to explore otherwise unmentionable
topics.

4.
FANTASY

The
fantasy genre can include any of following sub-genres: -

• Traditional - Epics, Legends, Myths,
Magic, Sword & Sorcery

• Modern - Horror, Supernatural,
Monsters, Ghosts, Zombies

Fantasy
fiction has a long history. It backdates to the ancient world, with mythical
legends. Modern fantasy still features myths as focal points for stories,
setting and characters.

Fantasy
stories have self-contained rules. The author decides these rules and every
character follows them creating a cohesive world. Magic may crop up, but this
needs rules too.

Stories
often feature symbolism to describe current worldviews within fantasy settings.
This is useful for discussing otherwise difficult topics in a comfortable
manner.

Horror
is a huge genre in the film industry, but not so much in novels. It is harder
to scare people with just words, but thrilling people is achievable. This is
why the thriller genre is bigger. I see horror as being thriller fantasy, but
it has more fantasy traits.

5.
CHILDREN’S

Children’s
stories are easy to understand, and are likely to be short, especially for
young readers. The younger the reader, the less drama stories contain and the
likelihood of talking animals increases.

They
will also feature themes relevant to younger generations. They need to have
some educational value, even if that value is simple, like the importance of
friendship.

6.
COMEDY

The
primary function of the comedy genre is to amuse. As a genre, it does not stand
up to much alone. It needs to work as a crossover with other genres, with
humour as the overriding factor; otherwise, you may end up with a joke book.

7.
DRAMA

Within
the drama genre, I include any of following sub-genres: -

• Romance, Women’s, Chick-Lit, Feminist,
Adult

You
may notice that my sub-types lean towards female audiences. I define drama
novels as those the archetypal mother, or my mum, would like. Though dramatic
books may not strictly be for women, they feature romantic threads women enjoy.

The
other sub-genres mentioned crossover with historical works. I include these in
the literary genre, within the countries respective literary canon.

9.
LITERARY

Literary
fiction means many things to people. For me literary is one of two things.
Either authors use distinctive styles, which makes them unable to fit within a
single genre. Alternatively, they encapsulate a countries culture, or through
popularity, have become part of culture. In both cases, originality is paramount.

When
defining the literary genre, I noticed differences between each countries
canon. Every country has its own strong literary identity.